The truck stopped behind the garage.
Reggie climbed out.
Cole and the other riders remained hidden.
Two armed men emerged.
Then a third.
Emily immediately recognized him.
Danny Merrick.
Eleven years in prison had changed him.
He was calm.
Too calm.
“Where is the girl?” he asked.
“In the truck.”
“Bring her out.”
Reggie opened the passenger door.
He reached for Emily.
Merrick suddenly stopped him.
“Her hands aren't tied.”
Emily's heart stopped.
Merrick knew.
He had caught the lie.
His hand moved toward his weapon.
Emily screamed:
“Now!”
The tarp exploded upward.
Nine bikers poured from the back.
The confrontation erupted.
Reggie threw himself across Emily and pushed her into the footwell.
A shot rang out.
Reggie collapsed.
Emily remained down.
She had promised Cole.
She would let them protect her.
Outside, the bikers subdued Merrick's guards.
Merrick ran.
He made it only a few steps.
Then Cole stepped out of the darkness.
“Hello, Danny.”
Merrick froze.
For eleven years, he had imagined this moment.
But he had never imagined facing Cole with the entire Iron Angels club behind him.
“You sent men to kill twenty-two of my brothers.”
Cole's voice was quiet.
“You waited eleven years.”
Merrick glared.
“You took eleven years from me.”
“No.”
Cole shook his head.
“You took them from yourself.”
Merrick's face twisted.
“Then what stopped me?”
Cole looked toward the truck.
“A girl.”
Merrick blinked.
“A seventeen-year-old girl with a torn jacket and an empty backpack.”
Cole's voice hardened.
“You built eleven years of revenge into a plan you thought was perfect.”
He pointed toward the truck.
“And a homeless girl you would never have noticed destroyed it.”
Merrick said nothing.
Cole stepped back.
“Think about that while you're in prison.”
The police were called.
Merrick was finally arrested.
The threat was over.
But Reggie was injured.
The Man Who Stopped Looking Away
Emily was still inside the truck when Cole reached her.
She was pressing both hands against Reggie's wound.
“He stepped between Merrick and me.”
Torres examined him.
“He'll live.”
Emily looked at Reggie.
“You stayed.”
His eyes opened weakly.
“You told me I would stop being a coward.”
Emily smiled through tears.
“I remember.”
“Tired of looking away,” he whispered.
She held his hand.
For two years, Emily had believed nobody chose her.
Now she understood something.
Her view of the world had not been completely wrong.
It had simply been incomplete.
There were people who looked away.
But there were also people who stayed.
Cole crouched beside her.
“It’s over.”
Emily stared at him.
“I keep waiting for you to leave.”
“We're not leaving.”
“What if the police take me?”
“They probably will, temporarily.”
Her face fell.
Cole continued.
“But we're going to do this properly.”
He promised to pursue every legal option.
Attorneys.
Paperwork.
Home studies.
Court hearings.
Whatever was necessary.
“You're a minor,” he said.
“We do this the right way.”
Emily whispered:
“Why me?”
Cole smiled sadly.
“Because you asked the same question of us without saying a word.”
“You stood in front of twenty-two motorcycles.”
He looked at the club.
“You refused to look away.”
Then he looked back at Emily.
“Now it's our turn.”
Six Hours
The police questioned Emily for six hours.
Cole waited outside.
A detective told him three times that he wasn't family.
Three times, Cole gave the same answer.
“I'll be right here.”
He never left.
Eventually, Emily walked out.
She looked exhausted.
“Cole?”
He stood immediately.
“You all right?”
She nodded.
“They're putting me into emergency placement.”
Cole nodded.
“Okay.”
Her eyes filled.
“You're not angry?”
“No.”
He crouched beside her.
“You go where the authorities require tonight.”
Emily stared at him.
“Tomorrow morning, I begin the legal process.”
He smiled.
“Attorneys. Forms. Home inspections.”
“You really mean it?”
“I do.”
Emily's voice broke.
“You can't just decide I'm your daughter.”
“No.”
Cole nodded.
“But I can decide I'm going to fight for the chance to become your family.”